Republicans Reject Unions … But Respect Union Refs?

Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential nominee who backed Walker’s attempt to decimate union rights, said this at a town hall in Cincinnati: “Did you guys watch that Packer game last night? I mean, give me a break. It is time to get the real refs."

After replacement refs bestowed on the Seattle Seahawks a win clearly deserved by the Green Bay Packers, GOP standard bearers Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and even Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the figurehead for GOP union-busting, called for the National Football League to restore its locked-out union refs.

Wait, what?

Unbelievably, it’s actually the sound of Republicans giving union refs a little respect. A union worker is to Republicans what comedian Rodney Dangerfield was to his stage wife – that is, a guy who can’t get no respect. Republicans have tried to tackle union rights since they were formally granted in 1935. The GOP admires business owners, not the working men and women whose labor is essential for companies to exist. The GOP believes owners and CEOs are indispensable but working stiffs are easily replaced. That’s what the NFL did – locked out the working stiffs and replaced them. That didn’t work out so well. And the GOP big wigs, in calling for the union refs’ reinstatement, admitted it. Amazing.

Here’s how it went down. First, the billion-dollar NFL locked out its union refs to save less than $5 million a year. That’s a lockout, not a strike. That means the refs were willing to work under the terms of their old contract until they could reach a new deal. But the NFL threw a little hissy fit and refused.

Lockouts don’t seem to make much sense. Logically, an employer would despise disruption and prefer workers continuing production until there’s agreement on a new contract. But that’s when workers are seeking a larger portion of the value of what they produce: higher pay or benefits.

When employers want to slash pay and benefits, they lock out workers. Even massively profitable employers–like the NFL–do it in an attempt to take more for themselves and give less to workers.

“You’ve never paid for an NFL ticket to watch somebody officiate a game.”

That disrespect led directly to the Packers-Seahawks fiasco. From the outset, the replacement refs fumbled and bumbled. Coaches complained that games were out of control. Fans mocked the numerous bad calls.

Wisconsin Gov. Walker, who faced a recall over his attempts to squash the collective bargaining rights of his state’s public sector workers, Tweeted afterward:

“After catching a few hours of sleep, the Packers game is still just as painful. #Returntherealrefs”

“I sure would like to see some experienced referees, with NFL experience, come back to the NFL playing fields.”

Of course, the only referees with NFL experience were the locked-out union ones. The substitutes were “real refs,” despite Ryan’s derision. They were, however, unseasoned. They lacked the training and time on the NFL field that the union refs have. In addition, they didn’t have the help of union ref Ed Hochuli, who assigned himself headmaster for a lockout boot camp. He sent his 120 fellow refs five-hour tests on rules, organized weekly conference calls on regulations and distributed game tape to ensure the union refs would be prepared when the NFL ended the lock out.

The same way NFL teams choose the top-performing players they can get or an employer selects the best workers for the job, the NFL picked Hochuli and the other 120 refs. The NFL believed those 121 individuals to be unrivaled. After they were hired, the refs received training and experience on the job. The same as all workers do.

This is disrespect. This is disregard for the value, skill, training and quality of workers. And it’s not safe. That was an argument made by NFL players who feared they’d be hurt in games they perceived to be unruly under substitute refs. The danger of replacements is a fact.

“We really doubt whether you can take someone out of an office cube and put him down a flaming manhole.”

The same was true when Honeywell International locked out its uranium processing workers in Metropolis, Ill., in 2010 and replaced them with substitutes whose training to handle the highly toxic combustible and corrosive chemicals used to process uranium for nuclear fuel was questionable. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission cited Honeywell for illegally coaching replacement workers on exams. And at least two dangerous incidents occurred at the plant while substitutes worked there, including a release of hydrofluoric acid.

Maybe now that they’ve seen what happened with the replacement refs, the GOP will respect workers.

Naw. That would be too good to be true, like the NFL reversing that bad call on the Packers-Seahawks game.

Full disclosure: The United Steelworkers union is a sponsor of In These Times.

Leo Gerard is the president of the United Steelworkers International union, part of the AFL-CIO. Gerard, the second Canadian to lead the union, started working at Inco's nickel smelter in Sudbury, Ontario at age 18. For more information about Gerard, visit usw.org.

This is nothing more than a sad and sorry attempt by right-wing, middle-class hating, unio-busting, good-for-nothing Republicans to appeal to the masses. They are smart enough to know the popularity of NFL football and see the waves of discontent from the working men and women they need votes from in order to win elections. This obvious pandering is typical of the Republican party. All one needs to do is look at how they have whipped the nations hunters, sportsmen and other gun owners into a state of paranoia in spite of the support President Obama has shown for every piece of pro-gun legislation that has crossed his desk. This is just another great opportunity for the owner of a dancing olympian horse who has friends who own racing teams to appear to have some empathy for the middle class. Hopefully, our union brothers and sisters recognize the irony of all of this and are not fooled by this less than sincere support for members of a union. Republican support for referees is almost expected. After all, the referees are not your average working stiff, many "own businesses or hold senior management positions," according to the web site "Only a Game with Bill Littlefield" (http://onlyagame.wbur.org/2012.... Of course this does not make them any less, or more, deserving of our empathy or sympathy as unionists, but to a Republican? They see the $75K rookie salary and $200K veteran pay added to a business owner's or mid to upper level manager's gross income and all of a sudden they become more appealing as a group. I am not surprised by the support, in fact I would be shocked if it didn't materialize. This is especially so after all of the hue and cry from fans. We have all seen or heard Republicans condemn teachers, mine workers, auto workers, members of the building trades and so many others for asking for better or safe working condiions, a bit of a raise or some common decency and respect. That is when they are being nice. We all know about Romneys thoughts about the "47%" and have heard ad nauseum about "greedy, out-of-touch" public servants hell bent on destroying government by demanding a cost of living raise or a pension. If I had a nickel for every time I heard Republicans call for the end of, or prevention of, prevailing rate or living wage for those working in construction or in a place of business funded by corporate welfare I could proabably fund the referee's pension fund for the next 50 years. At the end of the day, do not be fooled by these false proclamation of support for a union cause. Please, recognize it for what it is, pandering to the working class men and women who go to work every day and make this nation home to the most productive workers on the planet who enjoy their hard earned day off watching a couple of games of pro football. Also, please know that this insincere overature was probably concocted by some paid staffer, consultant or party strategist inspired by rants they saw on a few social media sites. Most importantly, see the Republican in working men's clothes and vote your own interests and for your wallet. Vote for the party and/or person who has time and again proven their support for us and our causes. Caveat emptor, my brothers and sisters, caveat emptor!!